It was now the 21st February as we left Byron Bay and rejoined the Pacific Highway, heading south and eventually booked into a camp site in Grafton. I have to say that the camper sites in Australia are, on the whole, quite brilliant. Christine and I had travelled almost 4000 kms since leaving Alice Springs and had stayed at about 14 or 15 different camp sites. We had not made any advanced bookings but we were always accommodated and in most cases with everything on-site that we could need. We found it an excellent way to travel around the country allowing maximum freedom to travel at whatever pace we chose. I only hope that the choice and convenience remain as good during my longer tour later this year.
The following day saw us back on the road by about 08.20 and heading towards Coffs Harbour. A delightful seaside town where my younger sister had lived some years previously. The picture below shows Christine posing at the end of the jetty
While the next is a view towards the town from the jetty with one of the local inhabitants looking on.
Following a short visit to the local mall and a whizz around the botanical gardens we hit the road again at about 13.00 and headed for Port Macquarie, a further 160 kms down the road. However, we were in no hurry and didn't arrive until about 15.30 and got booked into the camper site at the mouth of the river Hastings. During the evening we visited the local 'Hogs Breath' pub but found it to not be as interesting as others in the chain so moved on to one of the other hostelries. Once again we were astounded by the myriad outlets for gambling and the variety of human life taking advantage of it.
The next morning, 23rd Feb saw us heading for Wauchope and TimberTown. This is a representative town dating to approximately 1900 and it was very interesting to see the old style buildings and the similarity to an old American western town, as frequently depicted in films.
Of particular interest to me was the steam powered saw mill where we watched enormous logs being split into planks, and of course, the narrow gauge railway. The engine in use on the day having been built in Leeds in 1953.
After going for a trip on said railway we hightailed it back to the Pacific Highway to continue towards Newcastle, which was to be our last stop before Sydney. Eventually made Newcastle and booked into the Ocean Breeze Tourist Park by about 16.00 where we spent a quiet evening.
24th Feb, and hard to believe that this was our last day on the road because we had elected to spend the last 4 days of our holiday in the Sydney area so that we could do just a few of the routine touristy things. Had a bit of a late start and didn't get on the road until 09.15. However, with only a relatively short distance to travel we were not in too much of a hurry. Hence we continued down the old Pacific Highway through Wyong and Ourimbah until we reached Gosford where we decided to join the Sydney Newcastle Freeway until just south of Hornsby. Back on the Pacific Highway, we followed the signs for the airport and then Rockdale until we finally arrived at our destination which was the Sheralee Caravan Park just a short distance from Botany Bay.
I will finish for now and let you know about our Sydney experience the next time. However, below is a map showing the area covered during this post.
